How do we do a better job of cultivating young readers?
Reading is an important skill for enhancing knowledge about anything. It is a core component for developing any language. In my teaching journey as a Mathematics teacher, I believe if the children are well read, they have a better knowledge set. Other than using the textbook, I encourage students to read different books like life history of famous Mathematicians, recreational mathematics- games, puzzles, short cut methods etc. Here are two examples which I tried in my class:
Mathematics in Newspaper activity: Every day the newspaper is filled with a lot of reading material related to current developments, general knowledge, inspirational stories and information about national and international event updates. In my Math Classroom for inculcating the habit of reading and observation skills, I plan an activity,” Mathematics in Newspaper”wherein, students read the newspaper and note down the observations on what Mathematics is used in sharing the information.
Students reading experiences and stories: Sharing life history about famous Mathematicians is a common feature. It arouse students curiosity to know more about the person. Students are given an opportunity to speak about their reading experiences during vacations.
Ms. Anita Chadha is a teacher of English at Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Delhi, India from more than 25 years. As shared by her, in today’s time T.V, mobile phones, video games, internet and social media i.e facebook , whatsapp chats are dominant. The young children have distanced themselves from reading books. For with a click button everything is instantly available on the screen. Therefore inculcating reading habit is a great challenge. But I haven’t given up. I keep striving in one or the other way. It really worked.
Here is a strategy shared by her.
First step: I picked up a few books from my own collection and distributed among a group of fifty students telling them to read their book. First time I gave them a week’s time to finish reading. It’s interesting to share that my students were curious to know what next. After a week I called the group and each student was told to share the story with each other. They were instructed to listen and then interact and interject the readers. I could see their eagerness to read the others’ books. I was waiting for this to happen. Of course I encouraged them to swap the books. In this way each child in the group got an opportunity to read fifty books. Their developing interest could be seen when they could now finish two books in a week and three too. Amazing! I was overwhelmed.
Second step: After two weeks I taught them to make book jackets of any five books they read. And they gave a remarkable display of their creativity in making book jackets.
Third step: I simply asked and suggested them to dramatize a particular scene or situation they read in the story. They repeated the reading exercise and to my wonderment I discovered young actors and actresses. They wrote the scripts, created and added the dialogues and presented in their own words. They were awesome.
Fourth step: I provided them with a format of writing book review and they were encouraged to write the book review of the book they read and insert the same in the book jacket.
Another teacher Ms. Suchitra from the same school practices book review activity every year for inculcating reading habit. She prepares questions like, What is the author trying to convey to the readers? Which character impresses you the most? What is remarkable about the writing style of the author? What lesson do you draw from the book?
After the activity is over she encourages students to prepare a role play based on the novel.
from Mathematics Learning http://ift.tt/1U2K7nO
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